Movies, music videos and karaoke systems are some of the most successful forms of modern entertainment. Movies and music videos are essentially pre-recorded multimedia presentations with several synchronized tracks. A track is a recorded sequence of specific media type, such as motion video, audio, and text. (Examples of text tracks include movie subtitles and closed captioning.)
Karaoke systems are also multimedia presentations with prerecorded video and music audio tracks synchronized with a text display of lyrics, allowing the user to create a new vocal track in real time by singing into the microphone.
Video and electronic games are another popular entertainment form which uses video images, sound, and sometimes text to challenge a player to successfully execute a winning sequence of actions within a given time. Most video games impose time limits on the user's input. Often, the sequencing of video scenes is determined by the player's input. Some computerized games have been tied to real time constraints, such as for playing simultaneously with real-time events.
Other types of computerized games used for educational purposes include narrative or task sequences based on multiple choice, composition, fill-in-the-blanks or other related tasks. There are also instructional games based on motion video presentation which are accompanied by a text track, such as family of products from HyperGlot.TM. or subtitled films used for language instruction.
The object of the present invention is to combine the high entertainment value of movies, music videos, and other forms of multimedia presentations with the functional value of video and computerized games for educational and instructional tools.